It has been a longstanding objective in the art to achieve a rapid and efficient method for recording and displaying dynamic medical data about a patient, while also protecting sensitive or confidential patient information. Such protection is mandated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). One unexplored means for providing such protection includes the use of barcodes.
Barcodes are used to record and transmit large amounts of such data. Barcodes also allow data to be entered into a computer system, while greatly reducing the occurrence of human-related input error. Advantageously, barcodes are computer readable, but are not directly readable by humans. As such, the data contained in a barcode is somewhat encrypted. Unfortunately, once a barcode has been generated it is difficult to update without printing a fresh barcode (i.e. the barcode is static). Prior art barcodes are not generally adaptable to presenting dynamic data. A number of systems that utilize barcodes have been developed in the prior art, but to date, none has proven entirely satisfactory.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,372 (Patient Care System, issued May 30, 1989) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,857,716 (Patient Identification and Verification System and Method, issued Aug. 15, 1989) both to Gombrich et al., teach a tracking system that includes static barcodes disposed on the wrists of patients and their medication(s). Hospital employees can rapidly scan these barcodes to ensure the medications are properly associated with the correct patient. Unfortunately, the barcodes of Gombrich are static. Gombrich does not provide a method for communicating dynamic (i.e. frequently changing) data. Similar technology is disclosed in published PCT application WO1987/000659A1 to Clinicom Corporation (Patient Identification and Verification System and Method) and Japanese Patent Publication No. 02-027496 to Hitachi Medical Corporation (ID Information Writing/Reading Device).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,977 (System for Imprinting Patient-Identifying Barcodes onto Medical X-rays, issued Feb. 22, 1994) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,389,771 (Barcoding, issued Feb. 14, 1995), both to Amendolia et al., disclose a method for associating a patient's medical images with a barcode, thus helping to ensure the records are properly paired with the correct patient. Like Gombrich, the techniques of Amendolia can only track static data. A similar technique for tracking medicine bottles, rather than x-rays, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,865 to Glynn (Patient Compliance and Monitoring System for Multiple Regimens using a Movable Bar Code Reader, issued Jun. 30, 1998).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,805,152 to Furusawa (Video Presentation System, issued Sep. 8, 1998) also discloses novel uses for barcodes. Furusawa discloses a system for interacting with video images by associating those displayed images with a barcode. The user can then interact with the video by selecting the appropriate barcode.
Unfortunately, the aforementioned prior art only provides means for communicating static data. It is substantially more difficult to reduce dynamic data to barcode format. Nevertheless, some dynamic barcodes have found limited uses in the prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,522 (Dynamic Barcode Label System, issued Dec. 14, 1993) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,171,976 (Dynamic Coded Mechanical Metering System), both to Bone, disclose a method for converting a meter reading to a barcode format. As the meter reading changes, the barcode is updated with the changed value. An unskilled worker can record the current reading by simply scanning the barcode. The content of the aforementioned patents is hereby incorporated by reference into this specification.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,620 to Bone (Liquid Crystal Display, issued Jul. 4, 2000) also discloses a method for generating a dynamic barcode based upon input from an analog or digital device. The resulting dynamic barcode is displayed on a liquid crystal display (LCD). The content of the aforementioned patent is hereby incorporated by reference into this specification.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,939,699 to Perttunen et al. (Bar Code Display Apparatus, issued Aug. 17, 1999) teaches a method for generating a dynamic barcode in response to user input. The content of U.S. Pat. No. 5,939,699 is hereby incorporated by reference into this specification.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,666,377 to Harris (Bar Code Data Entry Device) provides an excellent discussion concerning the storage of large amounts of data within a barcode. Harris also provides an explanation of both one dimension and two dimensional (i.e. “matrix” or “Gettysburg Address”) barcodes. U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,059 to Ackley (Bar Code Symbology Capable of Encoding Bytes, Words, 16-bit characters, etc. and Method and Apparatus for Printing and Reading Same) also provides excellent background information concerning barcode technology. The content of U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,666,377 and 6,149,059 is hereby incorporated by reference into this specification.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,118,040 to Melock et al. (Method and Apparatus for Bar Code Data Interchange) teaches methods for scanning barcodes that are displayed on a digital display, such as a computer monitor. The content of the aforementioned patent is hereby incorporated by reference into this specification.
Unfortunately, the prior art of record does not provide a method to quickly and easily record dynamic data from a medical sensors nor does the prior art provide a system to protect the privacy of the patient whose medical information is considered confidential under HIPAA.
Therefore, a medical device that generates and updates dynamic barcodes in response to input from a medical sensor is desired.
Further, a method for encoding dynamic medical data is desired, wherein the encoded dynamic data is generally protected from viewing by the public, but is available for viewing by authorized medical personnel.